. >> wait a second. [ laughter ] >> jennifer: i'm jennifer grandholm. tonight in "the war room," my presidential ambitions are sinking like a stone, and mitt romney has a bad hair day. wait a minute that doesn't sound right. >> i attempted to go back to that wonderful line about ronald reagan, there you go again. >> clinton used that the other day in the democratic convention. >> jennifer: good god man now even your boys in congress are proving useless. >> let's have a big hand for the cute and curvaceous jennifer

grandholm. >> jennifer: oh, right. ♪ >> jennifer: we're going to start with big news on the campaign front today. mitt romney who staked his entire campaign on the premise that he would do a better job on the economy than the president, is now trailing the president on the issue of the -- wait for it -- the economy. that's right. likely voters think the president would be best on the economy, 47-46. that's a narrow lead but it's the first time the president has lead on this pivotal issue on the campaign. and this news comes as the administration stakes another major step to shore up the economy. ben bernanke announced a plan yesterday to buy mortgage backed securities which would help the housing market and overall economy as well.

and the fed said it's not going to stop acting until the unemployment rate going down. hallelujah if congress won't act at least the fed will. and mitt romney immediately criticized the move. >> i think we have to have a leadership in washington that encourages the private sector. i think printing more money at this point comes at a higher cost -- >> you woulden reappoint him if you won? >> i would like to appoint someone that i selected. >> jennifer: the dow shot up more than 200 points, following the announcement of ben bernanke. and today it closed at its highest level since 2007. but today also romney dismissed

the positive economic news as a sugar high. so here is paul ryan the vp nominee in 2010 talking about the president's original stimulus package. >> no sugar-high economics is going to substitute the fact that we're not getting the core foundation for economic growth. >> jennifer: let's just be clear about this. the stimulus did help to create a lot of jobs. this is according to the congressional budget office, it created 4.7 million jobs in 2010 and the stimulus created 3.6 million jobs in 2011. the center for budget and priority policies found that without that sweet sugar high, the unemployment rate in america would have skyrocketed to as high as 12%.

but the really outrageous thing about paul ryan's fed bashing is he is the leader of the obstructionist in congress. the ones who refuse to do anything in congress. and as forbes put it . . . >> jennifer: house republicans have refused to even consider the president's jobs plan -- the americans jobs act for over a year now, and what would the act have done if republicans passed it? let's turn to the experts, moody's estimated that the jobs act would create 1.9 million jobs and add 2% to gross domestic pod. the american policy institute

estimated it would increase employment by 4.3 million jobs. macroeconomic advisors predicted 2.1 million jobs goldman sachs also estimated it would add 1.5% to gdp. today chairman bernanke himself called on congress to do its job so he could stop doing it for them. >> we are looking for policy makers in other areas to do their part. we'll do our part, and try to make sure unemployment moves in the right direction, but we can't solve this probably ourselves. >> jennifer: he is so gentle. in response, eric cantor announced today after next week the house will stand in recess until november 13th. and i bet you 10,000 romney bucks that they don't pass the jobs act before then and even

though cantor has done nothing but obstruct the jobs bill, he still had the gal to say that he really does care. >> we are concerned about those individuals that the gentlemen speaks about that perhaps may be out of work or under employed or trying to make it and having a real difficult time. we're concerned about those % people. and the best thing we can do is create a job. >> jennifer: if you are so concerned then put your money where your mouth is! create some jobs! i am so angry at congress i want to spit! unemployment rate is over 8% and this president has proposed the jobs bill which by the way these pro growth policies that the republicans used to support back when they were a sane party, but today's republicans obviously refuse to act, and now after a solid few weeks of doing

absolutely nothing, they are adjourning congress until after the election. why did we put them there in the first place? our executive branch has offered this grand bargain but the legislative branch won't even consider it. the tea partiers will not consider giving up a dime not one dime, not one dime in revenue. even in exchange for billions in cuts and reforms. they won't consider the jobs act. they won't consider the violence against women act. they won't consider tax cuts for working families! they won't consider the farm bill. the list goes on and on. congress has a 12% approval rating right now. and it seems like they are aiming for a heck of a lot less because the republicans refuse to consider that maybe, just maybe americans want to see

action and compromise and progress rather than this political double speak and nonsense. now i know democrats are not perfect, and i'm not saying that. but this proud obstruction at all costs is all on the republican party. if mitt romney loses in a landslide, i can just hear it now. the republican party is going to blame him alone. you ever think that your policies might be the problem oh republicans, policies like tax breaks for million ayers, like tearing a struggling country's safety net to shreds, like onning instructing a jobs bill because you don't want the president to get a win? your problem republicans, with all due respect is not mitt romney. and it's not ben bernanke. your problem is that your policies hurt people.

so go ahead and obstruct and then go home for two months. progressives we know what we have to do. on november 6th, we have to make sure that these obstructionists will stay home for good. now, speaking of frustrating republicans, we have got breaking news out of wisconsin tonight. the circuit judge there has just struck down governor scott walker's law restricting collective bargaining rights for state workers. this law, you remember was a big reason for governor walker's recall back in june, and this afternoon governor walker released a statement saying . . . now technically the vote was all

about him and not the law, but still today's events could set up a show down at the state supreme court or maybe even higher. joining me now from mad soon wisconsin, via skype, to talk about what in part the ruling will have is john nichols. thank you so much for joining us inside "the war room." >> it's good to be with you governor. >> jennifer: all right. what is the actual impact of today's ruling? >> the impact is huge. when i read it i'm very skeptical about these things so you see these things on paper and think can this really be true? but when i spoke to unions at the municipal level, they said very bluntly, their lawyers have told them collective bargaining has been restored in wisconsin at the local level and teachers

across the state. what that means is as long as this ruling holds, and the governor will do everything he can to overturn it, but as long as it holds, the workers in wisconsin will have their rights restored. >> jennifer: i'm assuming the governor will file for injunction and appeal. how soon do you think we'll see a resolution. >> first off the governor will definitely appeal. this is his signature peak legislation. it is something that he cannot possibly allow to be thrown out. amusingly as he is touring the state to celebrate the u.s. constitution a judge has ruled that his signature piece of legislation is unconstitutional. under a host of protections cained in the federal and state

constitution. now we get into the question for the courts. this ruling is going to unleash a host of legal actions. because the ruling did not cover state employees, just municipal and school district employees state employee unions will be in court asking to expap it to cover them. there will be additional legal fights to determine whether where this ruling comes down and what it means to different people, but the key fight will be the governor's attempt to restore via the courts. he can't pass it through the legislature anymore. in the recall election his legislative control was removed from him. so we're going to have a real legal battle. if it gets to the state supreme court there is no question. state appellate courts lean away from him and there is still a

parallel federal suit going forward, and that suit goes on the same constitutional issues, so to sum it up governor, the reality is as a former attorney general you will well understand that the state of wisconsin has just entered into what is probably going to be a multi-year legal fight. >> jennifer: yeah for sure. and it is my understanding that the decision was based both on state and federal law -- >> absolutely right -- not state and federal law, state and federal constitution. saying first amendment rights were violated. and home rule to the state constitution were violated as well as protections of economic benefits of pensions received through a contract effectively the court said that the governor bypassing this law had wiped out contract laws that could not be wiped out in this way.

bottom line, though, and a very clear bottom line, this judge has said that across the boor the governor's law as it applies to local and school employees is unconstitutional. >> jennifer: all right. great summary. really abappreciate it. obviously we'll be following that. that might possiblien up in the u.s. supreme court. thanks so much for joining us inside "the war room." all right. you political junks out there. it's friday night in "the war room" we're just getting started. another wave of protests across the middle east. how does this all play out politically. plus if you don't like karl rove because he is a blood-sucking parasite, len to this. and later, yes, yes, yes, we

will address this. stupid youtube. american express.

(vo) always outspoken, now unleashed, joy behar. and i will try to find the humor in today's political climate. think we'll have far to look? ♪ >> jennifer: you're back inside "the war room." i'm jennifer grandholm. let's get caught up on the latest news from the middle east. anger escalated today. in response the u.s. has sent in an elite team of marines into yemen all of this comes after the four americans killed returned home this afternoon.

here is the latest. ♪ >> reporter: the four victims of the attack in libya, including chris stevens will return to maryland today. the president and a clearly moved secretary of state visited with their families and paid tribute. >> today we bring home four americans who gave their lives for our country and our values. >> that fundamental american belief that we can leave this world a little better than before. that's who they were and that's who we are. >> reporter: the brazen attack was apparently designed to strike on 9/11. >> it was deliberate planned attacks in every sense of the word. >> reporter: the white house claims there was no warning. >> we were not aware of any

intelligence. >> reporter: president obama has deployed troops equipped for combat to libya and yemen. if anti-american activity woesens in the middle east after four days of protests and violence. they launched tear gas into a sea of protesters today. many here say the movie is blaspfamous. the president spoke to ten minutes on tv trying to calm tensions. >> jennifer: i'm joined again by jeanine, welcome back inside "the war room." you are fast becoming our "war

room" expert on the middle east. really appreciate it. let's start with what happened today. the u.s. has disavowed the film and yet this wave of violence has spread to 20 countries now including sedan, tunisharc and others. can the governments do something to quell the violence? >> some can and some can't and some will and some won't. i think it's important to put in context it's not exclusively about this film anymore. in sudan, you had a sikh there come out and it was friday

prayers, people were amped up. >> jennifer: do you think it's more of an anti western series of slights or injuries that people are protesting? >> definitely built up resentment against the west and the united states exploding. another thing that may give people solace is some of these protests albeit explosive were relatively small. today's protest in cairo was about 2,000. last year you had hundreds of thousands. in sudan it was 5,000. it doesn't mean we shouldn't be alarmed, but they are not drawing everybody. >> jennifer: today the taliban attacked the allied base in afghanistan where prince harry is stationed. is that about him or the movie, or something else? >> it was absolutely about him. the taliban put out a statement

saying we will kill prince harry. they were looking for him and going after him. >> jennifer: let's get to another really important nexus here which is iran and israel. first of all does this wave mean that iran is next to act up? >> no, i don't -- look you have had times where iran has had its own revolution in 2009. what iran could do is seize the distraction. the u.s. will be distractioned with this right now. there is an election and a major crisis in the middle east president obama will be distracted with that. this could lead to more attentions in the region as well, but i don't see any kind of protest joining these inspired protests. >> jennifer: so it is a totally separate thing? >> totally separate. >> jennifer: okay, obviously

egypt and iran are on a collision course and netenyahu has clearly made noises that he is going to be seeking a strike against iran. is that likely to happen or is this more election year leverage? >> if netenyahu could go to ohio himself and go door to door to complain for mitt romney he would. but if they have no moral rights to tell israel not to strike came because he sees murmurs here that the consensus in washington is changing. and then you had secretary clinton come out earlier in the week and say we are not going to draw any red lines. and that upsets israel precisely because i believe the prime minister does not think he can strike iran on his own.

so i think it's hyperbolic and they cannot do it alone. they need at least the consent of the united states and probably more than support and leadership. >> jennifer: so do you think that iran is really on the cusp of developing something dangerous, or is this much further out? >> it's an important distinction, jennifer, and right now they are accelerating and raising the level of the enrichment that they are doing. they are building a stockpile to be able to build a nuclear weapon if they decide to do so. they have not made the decision to do so. israel still wants the u.s. to draw the red line of when they have x-amount of uranium stockpiled. a top official said this is a 2014 issue. so i don't think primaryster netenyahu has the backing of his

people or the security establishment for an attack in the near future. >> jennifer: should the president be handling this differently? >> i think this is an area where the state house and the white house need to improve. >> jennifer: tell me why. >> you need to go behind closed doors to manage israely issues. iran sees that the u.s. and israel are not together on this and they might try to exploit that. president obama has an opportunity to repair this at the un -- >> >> jennifer: it is an insult that he wasn't invited to meet with him. >> not only was he not invited he was rejected -- >> jennifer: do you think that was more than a scheduling issue? >> oh, absolutely. especially the fact that he is due to meet with the egyptian

president it is going to look quite odd if he doesn't meet with netenyahu. >> so it's so delicate and so human. >> a lot of egos. >> jennifer: yes indeed. thank you so much jeanine. i really appreciate you coming inside "the war room." up next we'll see if a new poll about voter enthusiasm brings mitt romney any good news. i think the mob learned from wall st., not vice versa.

>> jennifer: the latest "new york times" cbs poll that gives president obama 47 to 46 lead on the economy, also shows who is better at helping the middle class. that's a big jump. and on foreign policy the president is up by ten points. as for voter enthusiasm, this week's "washington post" abc news poll shows 56% of the president's voters are very enthusiastic, but only 46% of romney's voters are very enthusiastic. but there is a silver lining for romney. his supporters are more likely than obama voters to say they are absolutely certain to vote in november. with me inside "the war room" to help translate the data into

campaign analysis is john whaley, and joe garofoli is also here back from the democratic national convening. he's preparing for a trip through the swing states. great to have you both back inside "the war room." you look like bachelor number one and bachelor number two, but any way. ♪ >> jennifer: so joe let me start with you. i want to play a sound bite from mitt romney talking with george steph nopous. >> romney: don't raise taxes on middle income people lower them. >> jennifer: what he was doing was describing what he thought was the middle class, 200 to $250,000 or less. i just wan your reaction to that. >> two things. the median income is $50,000. a little reality check for mitt. and four years ago when john

mccain was asked how many houses do you have -- and he said let me get my staff to get back with you on that. so it's another in the line of romney's -- >> jennifer: yeah, every time he says something our antenna are already up for this. so it's tough. all right. let me ask you john, because this week's "washington post" abc news poll has something really -- i think very interesting. for the romney vote. people who are voting for romney are -- voting mostly against president obama, which is 50% of the ones voting for romney are voting because they are voting against president obama. that number for president obama is just 22%. >> i see it in focus groups when i ask romney supporters what it

is that you don't like about obama? and the level vitreal. but president obama's supporters they are passionate. >> jennifer: this week has been interesting week for romney overall, joe with the middle east crisis and his fumbles on that early on in the week. and the poll now shows the president is at least equal is not slightly ahead. >> that was the trump card that romney had. i'm your man to fix the economy. that was supposed to be his club. >> jennifer: it was. another very interesting poll from pew research center. the views on the presidential campaign. democrats think the campaign is

very interesting. republicans think that the campaign has gone on too long. [ laughter ] >> jennifer: what does this mean? >> and there were two other measures. informative and negative and in both cases you have democrats thinking it is more interesting and informative, republicans thinking it is too long and too negative. >> jennifer: and to be fair the republicans had a primary. they are reality testing well in their decision on that. so joe today romney actually taped a show with -- i was going to say regis and kelly -- it's kelly now and michael strahan and this is what he said -- i can't even say it -- because i can't imagine this coming out of romney's mouth, but he said, quote . . ..

>> if romney were to lose this race this is where he jumps the shark right now. where does this get him on women. he praises her for losing weight. >> jennifer: oh my god. >> the question was honey boo boo or snooki. he chose snooki over honey boo boo. and gave a reason for it -- >> somebody must have told him that question was coming. i have one more poll for you john. romney's image rating among independent likely voters obviously this is a prime group. his favorability and unfavorability. he is underwater on favorable in ohio under water on favorability in florida. however, in virginia he is doing

all right. this is similar to what the president's numbers are in virginia. is this -- can we move that? can he flip that? >> i think independent voters in virginia with quite different from independent voters in ohio. in ohio it's trending so favorably for the president right now that people are even considering taking it off the swing state list. but in virginia you done have the independent auto workers. it's very rural -- it's a different -- >> jennifer: it is a different dynamic. after this week, guys. the question we had last night because these polls are trending very much in the president's favor. is there anything that can shake this momentum that the president has? can romney stop this trajectory from happening? >> absolutely. i think the first debate is key. the first debate is the only one

that matters, and this will be the first time we have seen these guys next to each other, and for the people who are undecided or wobbly that's a key moment. >> jennifer: you agree? >> i agree. >> jennifer: anything else external that right happen that should shake this so much -- >> absolutely all of the stuff happening right now -- >> jennifer: would the middle east -- would the stuff in the middle east cause somebody to vote for the challenger. >> right now the stuff in the middle east does not affect a large swath of the population. it's hard to imagine that that turns into something that is going to be a problem. >> jennifer: all right. bachelor number one, bachelor number two thank you guys so much for coming in on a friday night. and after you read the new book

on karl rove the first thing you'll want to do is throw it at him. and then later, the 1970s hair spray abuse. be the cure, people, be the cure. we'll be right back.

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jennifer speaks truth to power. >>the bottom line is we need an amendment. >>now it's your turn. connect with "the war room" jennifer granholm. >>it's a call to arms. make your voice heard. look what you did. you outed a cia officer -- >> here is the deal -- >> you are going to rot in hell! >> with all due respect this goes to show the total a tear annism of the left.

>> jennifer: ya! that's just one of the countless times that somebody has actually tried to throw karl rove in the slammer. you would be hard pressed to find a more loathed republican. he was forced to bush's administration amidst the valerie plame affair. many thought that signals rove's end, but he is seemingly more powerful than ever today, because he is the architect and de facto leader of american cross roads, who is spending 10s of millions of dollars to defeat president obama. joining us tonight from new york with some inside scoop on karl rove is craig unger. he is the author of the new book

"boss rove." welcome inside "the war room." >> thanks for having me governor. >> jennifer: should karl rove be in jail? >> well, i think he came within inches of being indicted. it was clear he leaked valerie plame's name to at least two reporters. he testified before the grand jury that he did not leak her name, and as i show it in my book, he got off only by a stroke of luck when another reporter, time magazine happened to be friendly with his lawyer and told him that rove was in trouble and that the other reporter was going to testify against him, so rove went back and changed his testimony. otherwise i think he might have gone to jail. >> jennifer: well, he has not escaped notice of being really quite brilliant in terms of a

political tactician. how does he turn unsexy things like voter fraud into winning issues for the gop? >> way back in the '80s the texas republican party was very very week, and rove was sort of a nobody. and the democrats were strong because they had powerful conservative democrats like lloyd benson and john connelly and so forth. lloyd got around that by going to big tobacco and pharmaceutical companies and saying look, you guys you risk billions and billions of dollars in tort liability lawsuits. i can save you that money if you contribute to my candidates and i'll elect people to the texas state supreme court, and texas state legislature, and the

governorship. so he built up these very very loyal donors who are tributing to the super pacs even now. >> jennifer: i want you to take a listen to karl rove for knocking members of the current administration for their apparent lack of chet ritable contributions. >> i do pay a higher effective tax rate than president obama. and i do make more charitable contributions as a% of my income, than either he or the vice president, of course that's not hard when it is compared to vice president biden. mark up the underwear and give it away to goodwill. >> jennifer: i'm somebody who is pretty partisan as well but i do notice the sort of personal jibe there. i'm just wondering for karl rove, do you think that it is about winning at all costs? >> you know, he is not an id dee

log, or a true conservative. he gets money from people and does favors for them in return. and you can see that in this election and the super pacs. he has put together roughly $1 billion and when you add that to what romney has and the rnc, you have a total of $1.8 billion. by comparison john mccain had spent $375 million just four years ago. i think what we'll see in the upcoming election is the battleground states are going to be flooded with money. and if romney implodes a lot of that will go into the senate races. >> jennifer: what is his end game do you think? >> i think he's playing a very very long game and he's playing

it by remote control. romney's camp -- he does not have the close relationship he was had with george w. bush. but four or five of the top advisors in the romney camp are rove people by the way. again there is supposed to be no coordination between the super pacs and the candidate but it's hard to believe there's none when there's so much overlap. >> jennifer: right. right. they are completely interwoven. is there number on the republican side who matches rove in intelligence strategy brains? >> well, they may match them sometimes in brains and

intelligence, i always thought james carville was very, very smart. but when he was in power -- and if you look at the u.s. attorney scandal he played a huge role in the judiciary, and just -- i believe it was two days ago governor don siegelman went to jail. to me this was just a travesty of justice. and what you saw again and again were the u.s. attorneys were under orders to prosecute democrats. there were well over 200 politicians endieted under the bush administration. 85% of them were democrats, and there was true selective prosecution. >> jennifer: craig thank you so much for coming inside "the war room." that's craig unger, author of "boss rove." pick it up. and after the break, to be honest we're never quite sure what brett ehrlich comes up with on a friday. he kind of starts the weekend a

little early, if you know what i mean? >> at the end of the week what answers will remain unanswered well, not that one i'll have the question that answers that question after this. anybody? anybody? what time is it? oh, right. go time!

we here have a resolve that these dead shall not have died in vein that this nation under god shall have a few freedom government by the people for the people shall not parish from the earth. ♪ >> we can't tell our people they can vote yes on abolishing slavery unless at the same time

we can tell them that you are seeking peace. >> how many hundreds of thousands have died during your industry? >> congress must never declare equal those who god declared un unkwal. >> god has afforded us to instill this moment now! now! now! >> jennifer: love it if trailers are supposed to get you fired up to see a movie in addition accomplished. that's a peak of steven stillbergs "lincoln" due out in november, i cannot wait. what a week it has been. mitt's campaign has been put in serious jeopardy so how fit that in the spirit of jeopardy,

brett ehrlich's final skit of the week is in the form of a question. shhhh, brett's talking now. >> the events of this past week have taught us a myriad of questions. however, there are still so many unanswered questions. here are a few. on the morning of september 11th, how was the number 1 election story on google news about mickey manauj? ♪ out in miami i be chilling with my zombie ♪ >> why is this not matter of national security? and why don't people rob banks

like this in my neighborhood. all of this over a movie in all of this over this movie? >> your lady summons you. >> my lady? don't finish it. >> where are some christians so anti-mohammed. how does this faceless man so different from wilson in "home improvement." and john kerry is standing in for mitt romney to help barack obama prepare for the debates. that makes a lot of sense. >> jennifer: oh, brett brett, brett ehrlich, a quick break and then my chickens have come home to roost. confessions of a teenage game show contestant right after this.